File cabinet



Sepf- 13, 1932- J. H. RAND, JR., ET Al.

FILE CABINET ,Filed April '26, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /x-fw AbD l AhnSept. 13, 1932.

J. H. RAND, JR.. ET 'AL y 1,876,748

' FILE CABINET y Filed April 26, 1927 2 sneetssheet 2 lweom '.Jame IlPendi- Patented Sept. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT ori-ICE JAMES H.RAND, J R., OF BUFFALO, AND ENOCH OHNSTRAND, OF KENMORE, NEW YORK,

ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, N. Y., A CORPORATION F DELAWARE TOREMINGTON RAND INC., 0F NEW YORK1 FILE CABINET Application mea April as,

This invention relates to file cabinets, and in one feature of theinvention has reference more particularly to file cabinets in which thedrawers are especially adapted to receive reference data in a series ofpockets suspended from cross bars.

An object of this invention is to provide a file drawer of the classdescribed in which the construction is especially adapted to receivereference data in pockets suspended from slidably mounted cross bars.

Another object of the invention is to provide a file drawer which isadapted to open quickly under spring action when the latch is releasedby the handle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a file drawer in whichthe handle which is used to move the drawer relative to the housing isalso connected to the latch so that the two motions of unlatching thedrawer and withdrawing it from the housing can be accomplished nearlysimultaneously.

A still further object of the invention is to v provide a simple andinexpensive metal construction members for supporting the pocket crossbars; also to improve file cabinets in other respects hereinafterspecified and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one of the improved ile drawers with thehandle of same in latched position,

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but with the handle in unlatchedposition,

i Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation through the file drawerwith liner removed,

Fig. 4 is an elevation of a cabinet with a series of the improved filedrawers' in position,

Figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views through the latch mechanism on lines5-5 and 6-6 respectively of Fig. 3,

7 is a side elevation of one of the improved file drawers,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the bell crank lever for opening thelatch,

Fig. 9 is a perspective fragmentary `view which is adapted to receivethe slide.

1927. serial 1%.186394.

of the file drawer with parts broken away to disclose the construction,

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view through the drawer,

Fig. 11 is a sectional plan view of the drawer showing the springopening device,

Fig. 12 is a transverse sectional elevation through a modified form ofthe drawer,

Fig. 13 is a perspective fragmentary view of the rear end of themodified drawer shown in Fig. 12,

Fig. 14is a transverse fragmentary view of a still further modifiedmethod of attaching the cross bars to the drawer side wall.

Referring to the drawings yby numerals, 2O indicates a file cabinet orhousing in which a plurality of file drawers 21 for the reception ofreference data is mounted for sliding movement. These ile drawers 21 arepreferably lformed from sheet metal, which is both light and strong, andeach drawer is composed of a front wall 22, bottom 23, side walls 24 andrear wall 25. The side walls 24 of the improved drawer are preferablyeach provided with guideways 26 which areadapted to slide in suitableguideways formed in the cabinet 20. In common with other file cabinetsthe drawer 21 is adapted to slide in and out of the housing and toaccomplish this sliding movement, a handle 27 is provided on the outsideface of the front wall 22.- This handle 27 is preferably U-shaped, andone of the legs 28 has a pivot pin 29 screwed therein, said pin passingthrough a bushing 30. The bushing 30 is loosely secured to the frontwall 22 by an enlarged head 31 on the outside end and by lock nuts 32 onthe inside end thereof. The pin 29 is rotatably received in said bushing30 so that the handle 27 may be moved about pin 29 as a pivot. Theopposite leg 33 of the handle 27 is provided with a pin' 34.- screwedtherein, said pin passing through an arcuate slot 35 formed in the frontwall 22 of the drawer.

The drawer 21 is normally held in place in the housing 20 by means of alatch 36 which extends transversely through one of the side walls 24 andengages a suitable flange 37 formed on the housing 20. The drawer 21 inits closed position is urged to slide to open position out of cabinet 20by suitable propelling means as for example by a spring 38 secured tothe rear wall 39 of the housing 20, said spring being adapted to engagein a recess formed in the rear wall 25 of the drawer. When the latch 36is released from the flange 37 by the inward movement of said latch, thespring 38 moves the drawer to an open position where its contents can beinspected by an operator.

In order to properly control the latch 36, a bell crank lever 41 ispivotally mounted on the bushing 30, the end of one leg 42 of said leverbeing engaged by the pin 34 which passes through a suitable aperture insaid leg, a head 43 on the pin 34 confining the leg 42 between said headand the front wall 22 of the drawer. The second leg 44 of the lever 41preferably extends vertically and is pivotally connected by a lug 45 tothe inward end of latch bar 46. A lever spring 47 secured between theleg 42 and a fixed lug 48 on the front wall 22 normally tends to urgethe lever 41 in a counter-clockwise direction as seen in Fig. 3 so thatthe latch 36 is yieldingly held in the path of the flange 37 for lockingthe drawer in place in the cabinet 21. The counter-clockwise movementof' the lever 41 is limited by the pin 34 which engages the end of thearcuate slot 35.

Thus when the operator moves the handle 27 about pivot pin 29, eitherwith the hand or the foot, the drawer springs open under the action ofspring 38 and exposes the contents of the drawer for reference. Ifdesired by providing a spring or propelling means of suitable size andstrength the drawer may be automatically completely extended or asprovided for in the embodiment of the invention shown, completeextension of the drawer 21 from cabinet 20 may be accomplished by normalactuation of the handle 27. In a cabinet such as shown in Fig. 4 whereseveral drawers are positioned one above the other, by being able to oen the lower drawers by the foot instead 0 by leaning over to open themby hand, some labor is saved and the operation of filing is facilitated.

The major portion of the latch operating mechanism is positioned on theinner face of the front wall 22, and in order to separate the filecontents of the drawer from said mechanism, a liner 49 is provided whichis preferably of sheet metal. The upper edge of front wall 22 is bentinwardly to form flange 50 and then downwardly to form flange 51, theflange 51 being parallel to the front wall 22 and spaced therefrom toform a groove 52 for the reception of an offset flange 53 formed on theupper edge of liner 49. The other three edges of liner 49 are preferablyprovided with inturned flanges 54 which serve to space the liner 49apart from the front wall 22 so as to form a compartment r in which thelatch mechanism is contained.

A suitable label holder 56a is mounted on the front wall 22 by means oflugs 57 extending through said wall and bent over on the inside thereof.

The drawer so far described is adapted for containing any type ofreference data supported in any desired way. However, we prefer tosupport the reference data in pockets or folders 56 which are preferablysuspended from cross bars 57 suitably mounted for sliding movementlongitudinally of the drawer 21. In order to support the bars 57, weprovide a pair of longitudinally extending slide members 58, one aboveeach of the side walls 24, said slide members being preferably formed ofa heavy and resilient spring wire. The forward end of the wire 58 mayhave an upwardly extending arm 59 terminating in a horizontallyextending arm 60, and said wire extends through an aperture 61 formed inan inwardly extending flange 62 formed on each of the two vertical edgesof the front wall 22. Each rear end of slide member 58 may be bentdownwardly to form a leg 63 which may be received in a socket 63a formedin each of the rear corners of the drawer 21. The spring wire 58 ispreferably bowed upwardly slightly in its center so that the weight ofthe reference data in the middle pockets 56 is counteracted by theresiliency of the wire. The wire 58 may be aided in yieldingly carryingthe load of pockets 56 by the arm 59 engaging the flange 62, and by therear leg 63 engaging its socket 63a. The wire 58 is kept from twistingby the arm engaging the outer edge of flange 62 and by legs 63. In orderto hold thewire 58 in aperture 61, the vertical liner'flanges 54 aremade vto closely contact with the inner edge of the flanges 62 and arm59, thus mak ing the assembly of the entire drawer simple and easy toaccomplish. A suitable slot 65 is formed inone of the vertical flanges54 to receive the latch bar 46. The upper edge of each side wall 24 ispreferably bent outwardly to form flange 66 and then again bentdownwardly and inwardly to form flange 67, said flanges 66 and 67providing stiil'ening beads for the side walls. The ends of cross bars57 are provided with hooks 68 which engage the slide member 58 andpermit sliding movement of said cross bars axially of' the slide members58 but prevent their vertical disconnection from said slide members.

If desired, the cross bars 57 may be caused to engage and slide on theflange 66 on the upper edge of side walls 24 by forming a hook 69adapted toreceive said flanges 66 and 67 as shown in Fig. 14. In thiscase the flange 66 takes the place of the wire slide member 58 andsomewhat reduces the cost of the construction. To reduce the friction, alug 70 may be formed on the hook 69 to engage the flange 66 for slidingmovement. The flanges 66 and 67 may be formed as flanges 66al and 67a asshown in Fig. 12, in which case the flange 66a extends obliquelydownward so as to form a slide track 7l on the upper edge of each sidewall 24, said slide track being of small diameter so as to engage themodified hook 69a with the least possible sliding friction.

In the forms of the drawers shown in Figs. l2, 13 and 14, the top edgeof the rear wall a preferably extends across the back considerably belowthe flange 66 or track 7l. The cross bars 57 a with their suspendedpockets 56 can then be assembled onto the drawer by sliding said crossbars forwardly from the rear end of thedrawer over the top edge of rearwall 25a. In order to prevent the rearmost cross bars 57 from becomingdisengaged from flanges 66 or track 7l, a resilient wire 7 2 is placedacross the side walls 24 above the top edge of rear wall 25a, said wireextending into suitable openings 7 3 preferably in said side walls 24.

As shown in Figs. 7 and 10, a follower 74 may be used if desired whenthe pockets are only partially filled with reference material in orderto compress the pockets and hold the reference material compactly. Thisfollower is preferably in the form of a sheet of metal which is providedat each of its two upper corners with a housing 75 which has a returnbent flange 76 which slidably engages` the flange 66 on the upper edgeof each drawer side wall 24. A rock shaft 77 is rotatably mounted in thehousings 75, and intermediate its ends is provided with an offset crankarm 78. Each end 79 of the rock shaft 77 is ofi'- set or eccentric andbears a rotatably mounted roller which operates through an aperture.

in housing 75 on the drawer flange 66 so that said follower is securelylocked in the desired position when crank 78 is moved to lockingposition. It should be understood that the use of the follower 74 is notessential and same may be omitted if desired. When the follower is used,the suspended pockets may be dispensed with and separator partitions,folders or envelopes with their bottoms supported on the bottom of thedrawer, may be used as is well known in the art.

We would state in conclusion that while the illustrated examplesconstitute preferred embodiments of our invention, we do not limitourselves precisely to the details herein described since, manifestly,the same can be considerably varied without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

l. In a file drawer, a container having a front wall, a U-shaped handleoutside of said front wall, one leg of said handle being pivotallymounted on said front wall and the other leg of said handle having asection engaging an arcuate slot in said front wall, a housing for saiddrawer, a latch detachably securing saidv drawerv to said housing, andmeans connecting said latch and handle so that said latch may bedetached from said housing by moving said handle about the pivot thereofso as to permit movement of said drawer relative to said housing.

' 2. In a file cabinet, a housing, a drawer slidably mounted in saidhousing, a latch detachably securing said drawer to said hous-V ing, apivotally mounted handle associated with said drawer, said handle beingadapted to be actuated to `slide said drawer relative to said housing,and a bell crank lever adapted to be actuated by said handle, said leverbeing adapted to move said latch tounlatched position to permit movementof said drawer relative to said housing.

3. In a file drawer, a container having a front wall, a latch fordetachably securing said container to a housing, a U-shaped handlepivotally mounted on the front face of said front wall, a portion ofsaid handle eX- tending through said front wall to form a pivot, asecond portion of said handle eX- tending through an arcuate slot insaid front wall, a lever pivotally mounted inside of said front wall,one arm of said lever being engaged by said second portion so that saidlever can be rocked about the pivot thereof by rocking said handle aboutthe handle pivot and a second arm of said lever being pivotallyconnected to said latch to cause said latch to be disengaged lfrom saidhousing when said handle is actuated.

4. In a sheet metal file drawer, a container having a front wall,ahandle outside of said front wall, a latch detachably'securing saidcontainer to a housing, a downwardly extending flange formed along theinside top edge of said frontV wall, said flange being spaced from saidfront wall, a liner having a flange adapted to be inserted between saidfirst flange and said front wall, .the bottom of said liner beingadapted to be forced along the bottom of said drawer so that said lineris positioned in parallel arrangement with said front wall so as to forma compartment between said front wall and liner, and operating mechanismin said compartment connecting said handle with said latch.

5. In a file cabinet, a housing, a drawer slidable in said housing, saiddrawer having a front wall, latching means for locking said drawer inclosed position in said housing, and a handle having one portionpivotally secured to the front wall of said drawer and another portionspaced from the first portion and'mounted for supported movement on thedrawer front, said last named portion beingformed for engaging andoperating said latching means by the pivotal movement of said handle torelease said drawer for outward sliding movement from said housing whena pull is exerted (/n said handle.

6. In a le cabinet, a housing, a drawer sldable in said housing,latching means carried by the drawer for locking engagement with thehousing to hold said drawer in closed position, and a handle having oneend pivotally mounted on the drawer and the opposite end connected tosaid la'tching means for operating said latching means in the pivotalmovement of the handle to release the drawer for opening movement whenthe handle is pulled.

7'. In a tile cabinet, a housing, a drawer slidable in said housing,said drawer having a front wall, a latch mounted on the drawer normallyoperable 'to engage said housing and lock said drawer in housedposition, a handle mounted on the front side of said front wall, anoperating member for said latch adjacent the rear face of said frontwall, a single means for pivotally connecting said operating member andone end of said handle to said front wall, and means connecting theopposite end of said handle to said member for operating said latch uponthe pivotalmovement of said handle to release said drawer for openingmovement.

8. In a file cabinet, a housing, a drawer slidably mounted in thehousing, a handle pivotally mounted on the exterior of the drawer front`latching means on the drawer and cooperating means in the housing tosecure the drawer against movement when in housed position, operatingmeans for the latching means connected to the handle,- a spring withinthe housing adapted to be engaged and compressed by rear portions of thedrawer, said handle being operable to move the drawer into housedposition to load said spring, the urge of said spring being resisted bythe latch, said handle being also pivotally movable to release the latchand thereby release the spring to impel the drawer partially i rom thehousing.

JAMES H. RAND, JR. ENOCH OHNSTRAND.

